EAGER: Computational Thinking in Action in America's STEM Workplaces

在ATE成功的基础上？IT Across Careers （ITAC）项目和开发国家和地区自愿行业技能标准的丰富经验，EDC和计算机科学家技术委员会以及来自华盛顿大学、麻省理工学院、威廉姆斯学院、圣达菲研究所和雷神公司的计算思维（CT）思想领袖将开发和验证科学家、技术人员/技术专家、工程师、和美国的数学家？STEM（科学、技术、工程、数学）工作场所。该项目采用欧洲社会伙伴关系中使用的技能标准开发方法来确定一个？学习职业?并对该职业进行职业分析？创建新的语言和框架来描述美国STEM专业技术人员的工作职责、任务、技能、知识和属性。该项目将对CT的职责、职责以及相关技能、知识和属性进行全国性的在线验证。与STEM专家一起，项目团队将开发书面和视觉示例，说明STEM工作者如何在日常工作中使用CT技能来解决STEM工作场所常见的问题。传统和创新的传播策略将用于与国家CT利益相关者社区分享研究结果，以告知和推进正在进行的CT定义工作，并将CT纳入K？20个旨在培养下一代STEM创新者的教育项目。知识价值：该项目建立在定义CT的现有努力的基础上。它解决了迫切需要将计算思维的许多新兴定义根植于日常使用CT的工作科学家、技术人员和技术人员的验证技能、知识和经验中。聘请实验室和工业界的专家计算思考者，修改DACUM（开发课程）过程来描述CT，并使用？学习职业?作为一种促进跨学科和工作部门之间对话的机制，它们都与计算机科学家目前用来描述和阐明CT的方法截然不同。学习型职业的概念是一种经过验证的方法，用于定义新兴行业和工人责任发生实质性变化的职业的新职业。职业分析DACUM方法已得到广泛验证，并在国际上用于确定一线工人所需的技能。拟议的活动满足了CT社区的重要需求，并建立在先前的NSF和国家技能标准开发工作的基础上。将该项目与国家计算机科学和CT网络联系起来的技术委员会是由在各自领域有影响力的专家组成的，他们在不断发展的CT定义方面受到高度重视。该项目的PI是一位经验丰富的NSF PI，他领导过NSF项目和一个大型NSF中心，成功地满足了NSF项目的需求，为STEM职业发展提供了途径。更广泛的影响：职业分析方法提供了一种新的语言和结构，可以潜在地改变思想领袖之间的对话，形成计算思维的新兴定义。技术委员会将确保这项工作在有关CT的全国讨论中占有突出地位。揭开复杂的CT概念的神秘面纱将有助于公众理解CT作为STEM工作者的基本技能，并吸引新的学生进入STEM。清晰的技能组合和示例将为寻求成为未来STEM创新者的学生提供学习指南。此外，它们将帮助教育工作者设计和开发相关的学习项目、职业道路和课程，引导学生进入STEM职业。CT技能的例子？在行动?将被辅导员和教育工作者用来帮助扩大STEM学习和职业的参与，并引导构建学习经验，吸引代表性不足的群体并培养他们的才能。在这个项目中建立的过程将促进对如何在STEM中阐明新的和新兴的职业的理解，并提出重要的新问题。

Building on the successes of ATE?s IT Across Careers (ITAC) Project and extensive experience developing national and regional voluntary industry skill standards, EDC and a technical committee of computer scientists and thought leaders in computational thinking (CT) from the University of Washington, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Williams College, Santa Fe Institute, and Raytheon Corporation will develop and validate a common core of CT skill sets used by scientists, technicians/technologists, engineers, and mathematicians in America?s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) workplaces. The project employs a skill standards development methodology used in European social partnerships to identify a ?learning occupation? and conduct an occupational analysis of that occupation?creating new language and a framework to describe work duties, tasks, skills, knowledge, and attributes of U.S. STEM professional and technical workers empowered with CT. The project will conduct a national online validation of the resulting CT duties, responsibilities, and associated skills, knowledge, and attributes. With expert STEM workers, the project team will develop written and visual examples of how STEM workers use CT skills in routine work to solve problems commonly found in STEM workplaces. Traditional and innovative dissemination strategies will be used to share findings with the national community of CT stakeholders to inform and advance ongoing efforts to define CT, and to integrate CT into K?20 education programs aimed at building the next generation of STEM innovators. Intellectual Merit: The project builds on existing efforts to define CT. It addresses the urgent need to ground the many emerging definitions of Computational Thinking in validated skills, knowledge, and experiences of working scientists, technicians, and technologists who use CT on a daily basis. Engaging expert computational thinkers from laboratories and industry, modifying the DACUM (Developing A CUrriculuM) process to describe CT, and using the ?learning occupation? as a mechanism to surface and promote dialogue across disciplines and work sectors are each radically different from current approaches used by computer scientists to describe and clarify CT. The concept of a learning occupation is a proven way of defining new occupations for emerging industries and occupations that have undergone substantive changes in worker responsibilities. The occupational analysis DACUM methodology has been widely validated and used internationally to identify the skills needed by front-line workers. The proposed activities meet an important need within the CT community and build on prior NSF and National Skill Standards development work. The technical committee connecting the project to national computer science and CT networks are experts who are influential in their fields and highly regarded contributors to evolving definitions of CT. The PI for this project is a seasoned NSF PI who has led NSF projects and a large NSF center successfully serving the needs of NSF projects that develop pathways to STEM careers. Broader Impacts: The occupational analysis methodology provides a new language and structure that can potentially transform dialogue among thought leaders shaping the emerging definitions of computational thinking. The technical committee will ensure that the work finds a prominent place in the national discussion on CT. Demystifying difficult CT concepts will contribute to the public understanding of CT as a foundational skill set for STEM workers and attract new students into STEM. The articulated skill sets and examples will provide learning guideposts for students seeking to become the STEM innovators of the future. Moreover, they will help educators design and develop relevant programs of study, career pathways, and curricula leading students to STEM careers. Examples of CT skills ?in action? in the workplace will be used by counselors and educators to help broaden participation in STEM learning and careers, and lead to the construction of learning experiences that engage underrepresented groups and grow their talent. The processes established within this project will advance understanding of what it takes to articulate new and emerging occupations in STEM and surface important new questions to pursue.